#117💰DAZN secures second billion-dollar SportsTech investment of 2025

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News, features & insights from the world of Sports Tech & Biz. Every Week.

As some of us dot ‘I’s and cross ‘T’s of our Indian Report, the rest of the team moves onto the next topic: Women’s Sports Business and Tech Report, out in March. A quick preview below.

This week’s edition is a day late on account of travels and scheduling challenges. Apologies for the delay, we’ll be back to our regular Friday schedule next week. Thanks for your patience 🙏

Women’s Sports Business and Tech Report 2025: Preview

You’ll find a news story today about Ted Lasso’s latest season focusing on a new AFC Richmond's women's team - a pop culture indicator of the growing interest in Women’s Sports.

We’ve produced a few articles and podcasts on the topic over the last couple of years. Now we felt it’s time for a dedicated Women’s Sports Business and Tech Report, to be published in March.

Over the past 12 months, the women’s sports landscape has been transformed by several landmark deals across different areas: teams & leagues investments, media rights, infrastructure and development for female athletes.

Here are a selection of 5 major deals shaping the landscape:

• Angel City FC Ownership Change: In July 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger and wife Willow Bay invested $50 million in Angel City FC. This injection pushed the team’s valuation to $250 million – making it the most valuable women’s sports team in the world.

• Michele Kang $50 million investment to enhancing female athletic performance: The Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, and London City Lionesses owner Michele Kang announced the establishment of Kynisca Innovation Hub (KIH), a nonprofit dedicated to revolutionize training methods through education and innovation to unlock female athletic potential. KIH aims to raise $100 million to support its mission.

• 2027 & 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Netflix: Netflix has secured exclusive streaming rights for the next two Women's World Cups, ensuring that the event will reach millions of viewers around the world. This not only boosts the international profile of women's soccer but is also likely to drive increased sponsorship and advertising revenue.

• Launch of the Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball League: Co-founded by 2024 WNBA Finals rivals Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, Unrivaled – a player-run 3×3 league – successfully raised an $35 million in funding. The oversubscribed round attracted high-profile backers such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Carmelo Anthony, and Coco Gauff, highlighting investor confidence in innovative formats.

• LOVB $100 million Deal: The League of Volleyball (LOVB) secured a landmark $100 million investment. The new investment will continue to fuel LOVB’s mission to transform volleyball from the grassroots to the professional level, while supporting the launch of LOVB Pro’s inaugural season.

Alongside various others, these deals illustrate a dynamic shift in how investors, sponsors, and owners are betting on the growth of women’s sports—investing not only in competitive teams but also in media rights and developmental programs that will shape the future of the game.

Interested in partnering up on the report? Get in touch with us by replying to this email or to [email protected].

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Top News from the World of Sports Tech & Biz

🏀 Last week’s NBA Tech Summit brought up all sorts of interesting tech, including a playful take on “Physical AI” (robots) that could help the Golden State Warriors and Steph Curry train, including an appearance from the Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot dogs, which launched T-shirts and and entertained the crowd. The All-Star game itself didn’t much attention, the new format became the second-least-watched on record.

🚀 VC firm TitletownTech, backed by the Packers and Microsoft, will host a ‘Startup Draft’ with $1 million prize. Applications close on March 16.

🏃‍♀️ Ted Lasso season 4 is set to focus on the formation of AFC Richmond's women's team.

⚽ Amazon Prime Video launches live pay-per-view football in the UK, with France’s Ligue 1 the first competition to be available.

🏈 A couple of NFL related stories:

• Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria commented that her company may be interested in bidding in a package of Sunday afternoon NFL games.

• The NFL announced the finalists for the seventh annual Big Data Bowl, the League’s competition for the sports analytics community that challenges applicants to use Next Gen Stats to generate insights to enhance the game.  

🏎️ Plenty of F1 / Motorsports related news:

• F1 could be switching U.S. airwaves in 2026 as ESPN is reportedly not going to renew its media rights deal that expires after the 2025 season.

• Qiddiya Investment Company, Mercedes‑AMG and their F1 Team announced a partnership to create the Mercedes‑AMG World of Performance in Qiddiya City.

• MetaQuestVR users will be able to watch the Daytona500 in virtual reality through the Xtadium App, the first time that a NASCAR race will be available live in VR. Add on NASCAR’s partnership with Cosm for more immersive experiences.

• ICON and Gambit Technologies announced an innovative partnership with ARCA driver Amber Balcaen at the 2025 Daytona 500, which introduced a “Ask Amber” AI tool.

⚡And more:

• ⛳ LinksDAO announced its first U.S. property - Hillcrest, believed to be the second-oldest club in Kansas City, was last operational as a public course in 2023.

• 🏓 Cristiano Ronaldo is getting into sports streaming, or just continuing his backing of Premier Padel, as more than 600,000 fans watched the final day of Premier Padel’s Riyadh event through his official YouTube channel, which boasts over 74 million followers.

• 🏀 The average NBA franchise is now worth $ 4.66 billion, according to CNBC Sport’s new rankings, with the Golden State Warriors leading the way at $9.4 billion. New York Knicks with value of $7.5 billion & Los Angeles Lakers at $7 billion complete the top three. 

• 🤑 Nascar is ‘absolutely’ looking at private equity investment in coming years, per president Steve Phelps.

Money Talks:

💰 Top Investment Deals

• 🏏 Torrent Group entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake of 67% in the renowned IPL franchise, Gujarat Titans from Irelia Company- currently fully owned by funds managed by CVC.

• The sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez is back on track after a three-member arbitration panel ruled in their favor on Monday. However, that sale is yet to get the approval of the other NBA owners.

• Cryptocurrency firm Tether is open to all future options with regards to increasing its investment in Juventus FC, where it has built a 5% stake, and has the financial capacity to do so.

• Surj Sports Investment, the sports investment unit of PIF, acquired a minority stake in DAZN sports streaming service in a landmark $1 billion deal. It could radically affect the sports content ecosystem in the Middle East.

• Rocket Youth, the fast-growing youth enrichment platform that partners with local educators, coaches to scale their businesses - announced that it had raised more than $100 million in backing led by sports industry veterans Maverick Carter and Daniel Sillman as well as ZBS Partners. 

• Playbypoint successfully raised $5.5 million in their latest funding round led by Blueprint Equity, 

• Ochy, a France-based provider of an AI-powered running gait platform, raised €1.7 million ($1.8 m) in a Pre-Seed funding round led by Redstone’s Social Impact Fund.

• Bengaluru-based GoRally secured $750,000 in (approximately ₹6.6 crore) in a pre-seed funding round to expand its pickleball centers. Round was led by Sujeet Kumar, co-founder of Udaan. 

• Utrain App has been selected for the 2025 Lighthouse Labs RVA Cohort 18, getting an undisclosed investment. 

• Omeed Malik, Chris Buskirk, and Donald Trump Jr.'s 1789 Capital, co-led a multi-million-dollar Series B round for the Enhanced Games, alongside significant contributions from other blue chip investors.

• Kiro Race Co, the newest team competing in the FIA Formula E World Championship as CUPRA KIRO, announced their expanded ownership with a group of highly strategic investors.

💰 Top Acquisition / Merger Deals

• FitLab acquired Mile High Run Club for an undisclosed amount. 

• Singapore-based longevity clinic Chi Longevity announced the acquisition of brain fitness firm Sparkd and launched what it claims is the first evidence-based healthy longevity gym in the world. 

Recap from our content archive:

🔙 STX Article: Innovative Fan Engagement- The Future of Sports in the Metaverse, Web3, and Beyond

✅ STX Monthly: Last month’s sports tech dealflow, in case you missed it.

💪🏽 SportsTech AllStars Recap: Global Sports Tech VC Report series.